This past Saturday night, March 18 at The Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, in front of a packed house of 19,939 boxing fans and millions watching worldwide, GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN improved to 37-0 with 33 knockouts with a superb performance in a 12-round unanimous decision victory (115-112, 115-112 and 114-113) over #1 ranked mandatory challenger DANIEL “THE MIRACLE MAN” JACOBS (32-2, 29 KO’s).
(Photos Courtesy HBO/Ed Mulholland)
The victory, telecast in the United States on HBO Pay-Per-View, was Golovkin’s 18th consecutive middleweight world title defense.
“We’re very happy with the promotion, clearly boxing fans in attendance and those watching internationally were provided an outstanding evening of entertainment, a goal we strive for with each event,” said TOM LOEFFLER of K2 Promotions. “The main event saw the two best middleweights in a thrilling back-and-forth fight. Additionally, the co-feature between ROMAN “CHOCOLATITO” GONZALEZ, (46-1, 38 KO’s), and SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI, (42-4-1, 38 KO’s), was a very hotly contested battle throughout and is certain to be the leading candidate for ‘Fight of the Year’ lists.”
At the end of their 12-round epic clash, Sor Rungvisai was controversially declared the majority decison winner by scores of 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113. Said Loeffler, “I’m sure ‘Chocolatito’ will want a rematch to regain his title.”
Both memorable battles will be exclusively replayed this Saturday, March 25 on HBO Sports’ World Championship Boxing, at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT)
Continued Loeffler, “Our live gate on Saturday night was over $3.7 million, nearly doubling Gennady’s previous fight at Madison Square Garden against David Lemieux in October 2015. The international TV rights fees for the event to over 100 countries generated the highest revenue for any “GGG” fight.”
“Sponsorships also generated the highest revenue for any “GGG” fight, particularly with the addition of HUBLOT and CHIVAS, both of whom not only sponsored the fight but have designated Gennady as a brand ambassador which is a tremendous recognition for him.”
“Additionally, Gennady’s merchandise sales on Saturday of $150,000 also broke his previous Madison Square Garden boxing event record of $124,000 set at the Lemieux fight.”
“Finally our Pay-Per-View numbers are projected to well exceed those of Gennady’s first pay-pay-event, which were just over 153,000, with exact numbers still being calculated.”
HBO presents Golovkin vs. Jacobs replay on March 25
HBO Sports presents WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: GENNADY GOLOVKIN VS. DANIEL JACOBS AND ROMAN “CHOCOLATITO” GONZALEZ VS. SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI, the exclusive replay of their highly anticipated world championship title fights, SATURDAY, MARCH 25 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The HBO Sports team, which was ringside at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the live HBO Pay-Per-View® presentation on March 18, called all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
The fights will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.
Among the sport’s top pound-for-pound performers, Golovkin, a native of Kazakhstan now living in Santa Monica, Cal., put his undefeated mark, extraordinary ring record 36-0, 33 KOs and collection of 160-pound world title belts on the line against hometown hero Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) of Brooklyn. The tense, hard-fought thriller came down to the scorecards, with Golovkin prevailing.
The co-feature was a super flyweight title bout pitting reigning champ and pound-for-pound ace Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KOs) of Nicaragua against challenger Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (41-4-1, 38 KOs) of Thailand. In a controversial upset, Gonzalez’s unbeaten streak ended at 46 fights.
Immediately following the two fights, HBO Sports presents the feature 2 Days: Vasyl Lomachenko at approximately 12:10 a.m. (ET/PT). Lomachenko makes his 2017 ring debut Saturday, April 8 vs. Jason Sosa live on an HBO tripleheader telecast from Oxon Hill, MD.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.